The StateCouncil Information Office of

the People’s Republic of China

December2018

FirstEdition 2018

ISBN 978-7-119-

© ForeignLanguages Press Co. Ltd, Beijing, China, 2018

Published by ForeignLanguages Press Co. Ltd

24BaiwanzhuangRoad, Beijing 100037, China

Distributed by ChinaInternational Book Trading Corporation

35ChegongzhuangXilu, Beijing 100044, China

P.O. Box 399,Beijing, China

Printed in the People’sRepublic of China

Contents

Foreword

I.Firmly Establishing a Governance Principle ofRespecting

andProtecting Human Rights

II.Better Protecting the Rights to Subsistence andDevelopment

III.Fully Developing Human Rights in All Respects

IV.Ensuring the Rights of Special Groups

V.ComprehensivelyPromoting the Rule of Law for Human Rights

VI.Facilitating the Development ofHuman Rights inthe World

VII.ActiveParticipation in Global Governance of Human Rights

VIII.Path of Human Rights Protection Suited toNational Conditions

Conclusion

Foreword

2018 marks the 40th anniversaryof reform and opening up in China. The Communist Party of China (CPC) has ledthe people in carrying out this great new revolution in the new era – onethat holds the key to the destiny of contemporary China. Reform and opening uphas helped to liberate and develop social productive forces. It has opened up apath of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and ushered in a new chapter inthe development of human rights.

Over the four decades, theChinese people have worked hard as one under the strong and coherent leadershipof the CPC. Huge changes have taken place, and living standards havesignificantly improved. The Chinese nation has risen and become prosperous andstrong.

Over the four decades, the CPChas alwaysprioritizedthe people’s interests,ensuring that reform is conducted for the people and by the people, and that itsbenefits are shared by the people. It has worked to safeguard the fundamentalinterests of the overwhelming majority of the people, respect human values anddignity, and promote the well-rounded development of the people.

Over the four decades, China hasshowed respect for, protected and promoted human rights in the course of reformand opening up. It has blazed a trail of development in human rights thatconforms to the national conditions, and created new experiences and newprogress in safeguarding human rights.

Over the four decades, China hassummed up its historical experience, drawn on the achievements of humancivilization, combined the universal principles of human rights with theprevailing realities of the country, and generated a series of innovative ideason human rights. It has brought into being basic rights thatcenteron the people andprioritizetheir rights to subsistence and development, and proposed that China shouldfollow a path of comprehensive and coordinated human rights development underthe rule of law.

Over the four decades, China hascarried out extensive exchanges and cooperation in the field of human rights,earnestly fulfilled its international human rights obligations, fullyparticipated in international human rights affairs, actively promoted reform ofthe global human rights governance system, worked hard for the building of aglobal community of shared future, and made a consistent contribution to theinternational cause of human rights.

I. Firmly Establishing a Governance

Principle of Respecting and

Protecting Human Rights

It is the determination andultimate goal of the CPC and the Chinese government to respect and protecthuman rights. Since the launch of reform and opening up in 1978,“respecting and protecting human rights” has been written into thereports to CPC National Congresses, the Constitution of the People’sRepublic of China (PRC), the Constitution of the Communist Party of China, andstrategies and plans for national development, becoming an important principleof governance for the CPC and the Chinese government.

That the state respects andprotects human rights has been established as an important principle of theConstitution of the PRC.The Constitution isthe fundamental law of a country, making it a declaration of human rightsprotection. As the supreme law, the Constitution of China effectively ensuresthat the people are masters of the country, and has promoted the cause of humanrights in China. In 1954, the first Constitution of the PRC was created. TheConstitution of 1982 stipulated clearly in the “General Principle”and “The Fundamental Rights and Duties of Citizens” that all peopleenjoy a wide range of rights, including personal rights, right to dignity,property rights, political rights, and economic, social and cultural rights.

Since then the state has revisedthe Constitution five times in accordance with the developments andrequirements of reform and opening up,enhancingthe status of human rights. In 2004, the Constitution establishedthe principle that “the state respects andprotects human rights”, and further clarified citizens’ rights inthe economic, political, cultural and social fields. This launched a newstage where human rights develop under the guidance of constitutional principles.The amendment to the Constitution adopted in 2018 guarantees the principalposition of the people, ensuring inthe newera the development of socialist human rights with Chinese characteristics,and the realization of the Two Centenary Goals and the Chinese Dream ofnational rejuvenation.

Respecting and protecting humanrights is a pursuit in CPC governance.Basedon the realities of reform and opening up, the CPC has proposed a series of ideason human rights in China, constantly adding new elements to reflect the changesin our time. In 1997, the 15th CPC National Congress clearly stated: “Asa ruling party, the Communist Party leads and supports the people in exercisingthe power of running the state, holding democratic elections, making policydecisions in a democratic manner, instituting democratic management andsupervision, ensuring that the people enjoy extensive rights and freedomendowed by law, and respecting and guaranteeing human rights.” In 2002,“human rights are respected and guaranteed” was written into thereport to the 16th CPC National Congress as an important goal of socialistpolitical progress. In 2007, when summarizing “sound development of thecause of human rights” over the previous five years, the report to the17th CPC National Congress further pointed out: “We must respect andsafeguard human rights, and ensure the equal right to participation anddevelopment for all members of society in accordance with the law.” Andin the same year, this principle was written for the first time into the CPCConstitution.

In 2012, the principle that“human rights should be fully respected and protected” was definedby the 18th CPC National Congress as an important goal in building a moderatelyprosperous society in all respects, establishing the importance of human rightsfrom a strategic perspective. The CPC Constitution amended and adopted at thiscongress reaffirms the principle of respecting and protecting human rights. In2014, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee adopted the“Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China onMajor Issues Concerning Comprehensively Advancing the Rule of Law”,making a major strategic plan to comprehensively advance the rule of law aspart of its effort to modernize the state governance system and enhance itsadministrative capacity. The resolution emphasizes the need to “providestronger judicial protection of human rights” and to “strengthenawareness throughout the whole of society about the need to respect andsafeguard human rights”. In 2017, the CPC 19th National CongressestablishedXiJinpingThought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guidingideology of the CPC, and clearly stated that we should “strengthen legalprotection for human rights to ensure that the people enjoy extensive rightsand freedoms as prescribed by law”.XiJinpingthought raises new and higher developmentrequirements for China’s human rights in the new era, and providesfundamental principles for us to follow the path and advance the cause of humanrights with Chinese characteristics.

It has become a core goal ofnational development to respect and protect human rights.Inits national development strategies, the Chinese government upholds the valuesof respecting and safeguarding human rights, and is committed to improving thepeople’swellbeing, safeguarding their rights,and promoting their well-rounded development.

To meet the requirements of buildingsocialism with Chinese characteristics since the three-step developmentstrategy for achieving modernization was laid out in the early days of reformand opening up, the CPC and the Chinese government have always pursued thegoals of improving people’s living standards and ensuring that they enjoyvarious basic rights. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CentralCommittee led by General SecretaryXiJinpinghas made it clear that, in governing the country,it will follow the goal of meeting the people’s aspiration to live abetter life and subsequently set the Two Centenary Goals. In 2017, the 19th CPCNational Congress proposed that on the basis of completing the building of amoderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020, a two-step approachshould be taken to build China into a strong and modern socialist country bythe middle of the century.

In accordance with therequirements and strategies for building a modern socialist country, theChinese government has made a national plan every five years from 1953 to 2001for the development of the economy, culture, society, and other sectors. In2006, the detailed, micro plan with growth targets was transformed to a macroprogram for national economic and social development. China has formulated 13such programs for national economic and social development, covering povertyelimination, education, healthcare, employment, social security, democracy andthe rule of law, and the anti-corruption campaign and involving economic,social, cultural, civil and political rights. These plans set out the guidingprinciples, goals, basic requirements and implementation measures for thedevelopment of human rights.

In response to the UN ViennaDeclaration and Programme of Action, the Chinese government has made andcarried out the National Human Rights Action Plan (2009-2010), National HumanRights Action Plan (2012-2015), and National Human Rights Action Plan(2016-2020), setting phased goals and tasks for respecting and safeguardinghuman rights. It has fulfilled the targets set in the first two action plans,and is working on the third. The Chinese government has also formulated specialaction plans relating to the economy, culture, society, the environment andother fields, as well as special plans to protect the rights of specific groupssuch as ethnic minorities, women, children, the elderly, and people withdisabilities. In so doing, the government is determined to ensure equalopportunities for all people to live a rewarding life, realize their dreams,and enjoy full access to human rights.

II. Better Protecting the Rights to

Subsistence and Development

Over the past 40 years, China hasworked to better protect basic human rights, with its primary focus on therights to subsistence and development. Developmentis China’s top priority in governance and considered to be the keyto addressing the country’s main problems. China has focused on ensuringand improving people’swellbeingby resolvingtheir most serious and urgent problems, realizing historic leaps from povertyto securing access to food and clothing, and thence to moderate prosperity.

Tremendousachievements in poverty reduction.Poverty elimination is the top priority in China’s effort to protecthuman rights. Reform and opening up have been a great driving force for povertyelimination in China. Over the past four decades, the Chinese government hasmadecontinuousendeavorsin poverty reduction, concentrating on development-oriented povertyalleviation in rural areas. The government has carried out large-scaledevelopment-oriented poverty-alleviation campaigns across the country in aplanned and organized way, and implemented a number of medium- and long-termprograms, including the Seven-Year Program for Lifting 80 Million People Out ofPoverty (1994-2000), the Outline for Development-Oriented Poverty Alleviationfor China’s Rural Areas (2001-2010), and the Outline forDevelopment-Oriented Poverty Alleviation for China’s Rural Areas(2011-2020).

Since the 18th CPC NationalCongress, the CPC Central Committee has gone all out to win the battle againstpoverty, taken poverty elimination as the primary task, made it a definingindicator in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and madeunprecedented efforts to implement major plans for development-oriented povertyalleviation. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council have issued theDecision on Winning the BattleAgainstPoverty, whichlays out the goals and criteria for poverty elimination, establishes the basicstrategy of targeted poverty alleviation and elimination, creates a povertyelimination system with Chinese characteristics, and defines comprehensiveefforts to advance key plans for targeted poverty alleviation.

In the light of the strategicgoal of poverty elimination set out by the 19th CPC National Congress, thecentral authorities issued a Three-Year Guideline on Winning the BattleAgainstPoverty. The 19th CPC National Congress definedtargeted poverty elimination as one of the three crucial battles in building amoderately prosperous society in all respects, and pledged to help all therural population living below the current poverty line shake off poverty by theyear 2020 and ensure that poor people and poor areas will join the moderatelyprosperous society together with the rest of the country.

Through decades of efforts, thenumber of rural poor has markedly dropped and the poverty headcount ratio hasseen a continuous decrease. Solid steps have been taken to eliminate regionalpoverty, and the working conditions and living standards of the rural poor havenotably improved, which created a stronger sense of gain for the people,indicating decisive progress has been made in the fight against poverty.According to World Bank estimates, over the past 40 years, the number of peoplein China living on less than US$1.9 a day (international poverty line) hasdropped by more than 850 million – this represents 70 percent of thetotal world figure. The number of rural poor fell from 770 million in 1978 to30.46 million in 2017 when calculated in accordance with China’s currentpoverty line, with the incidence of poverty dropping from 97.5 percent to 3.1percent. More than 10 million people rose and remained above the poverty levelevery year from 2012 to 2017. With the highest number of people moving out ofpoverty, China was the first developing country to realize the UN MillenniumDevelopment Goal for poverty reduction. Poverty reduction is the most tellingevidence of China’s progress in human rights.

Adequate food and clothingensured.In the early days of reform and opening up, providingenough food and clothing for nearly one billion people was the top issue facingChina. Reform of the rural land system andthe implementation of the household responsibility system greatlystimulated farmers’ enthusiasm and boostedagricultural production capacity. China’s food grain outputreached 661.61million tons in 2017, double the figure of 1978. In recent yearsChina has become the world’s largest producer of grain, meat, peanuts andtea, the second-largest producer of rapeseed, and the third-largest producer ofsugarcane. China feeds approximately 20 percent of the world’s populationusing less than 10 percent of the arable land, guaranteeing the basic right tosubsistence by eradicating hunger and improving nutrition.

Safer drinking water.National standards for major drinking water sources have been implemented. In2016 more than 600 surface water sources each supplying drinking water for200,000 people or more, and all ground water sources each supplying 20 millionor more cubic metersof drinking waterannually were incorporated into the Catalogue of China’s MajorDrinking Water Sources, subject to annual quality assessment. The 2017assessment results show that 99.5 percent of the drinking water sources met thewater supply reliability standard, and 90.9 percent met the water qualitystandard.

A program was launched in 2005 toensure drinking water safety in rural areas. By the end of 2015 a total of 520million rural residents and 47 million teachers and students in rural areas hadgained access to safe drinking water. Since 2016 the program has been upgradedto reinforce rural drinking water safety. By the end of 2017 the upgrade hadbenefitted95.09 million rural residents, among whom 11.69million were people living below the poverty line.Centralizedwater supply now covers 85 percent of the rural population and 80 percent ofrural people have access to tap water.

Improved housingconditions.The past 40 yearshave witnessed a remarkable improvement in housing conditions. In 2017 the percapita floor space of urban residents was 36.9 sq m, up from 6.7 sq m in 1978,and that of rural residents was 46.7 sq m, up from 8.1 sq m in 1978. The statehas made it a priority to resolve housing problems for poor families. From 2008to 2017 government subsidies were used to build 64 million housing units inurban areas, and redevelopment of run-down areas helped 100 million people movefrom sub-standard accommodation to new apartments. By the end of 2017 more than35 million people in straitened circumstances had moved into public rentalhousing units, and more than 20 million poor people had received public rentalsubsidies. Sincethe 18th CPC NationalCongress the state has increased funding for dilapidated rural housingrenovation, allocating RMB162.5 billion in subsidies for renovating thesub-standard housing of 16.59 million rural households, and helping tens ofmillions of rural households move into proper accommodation from dilapidatedhouses built of such materials as beaten earth, and timber and bark.

More convenient andsafer public transport.Over the past 40years China’s steadily-improving public transport network has providedstronger support for the country’s economic and social development, andgreater convenience and safety to the public. By the end of 2017 China’srail network had grown to 127,000kilometers, up by150 percent from 1978, and high-speed rail had reached 25,000kilometers, accounting for more than 60 percent of theworld’s total. The high-speed and other railway lines form an extensivepassenger transport network covering all provincial capitals in the country. Bythe end of 2017 China’s road network had increased to 4.77 millionkilometers, up by 440 percent from 1978, including 136,000kilometersof expressways. Road density had grown more thanfivefold from the beginning of reform and opening up to 49.72 km/100 sq km.Every county in China now has access to roads. Rural transport has seencontinuous improvement, with roads connecting 99.99 percent of towns andtownships and 99.98 percent of administrative villages. Since 2001 programshave been carried out to renovate dangerous bridges, and reinforce road safety,the protection of the public, and road disaster prevention. Through theseprograms, 39,000 bridges on roads at township level and above, 660,000kilometersof high-risk roads, and 31,000kilometersof disaster-prone roads have been renovated tobetter safeguard public transport safety.

A total of 8,440 new post officeshave been built in towns and townships, with the result that everytownship-level unit has a post office and every village has access to postalservices. Express delivery outlets cover 87 percent of towns and townships,establishing a two-way channel that facilitates the transport of manufacturedproducts to rural areas and agricultural products to the cities.

Better protection of the rightsto life and health.Since reform andopening up, and especially since the 18th CPC National Congress, the countryhas increased public access to health services throughout the life cycle, toquicken its pace toward a healthy China. Life expectancy in China rose from67.8 in 1981 to 76.7 in 2017, higher than the world average of 72. The maternalmortality rate decreased from 94.7 per 100,000 in 1989 to 19.6 per 100,000 in2017,and the infant mortality rate dropped from 50.2 per1,000 in 1991 to 6.8 per 1,000 in 2017, both meeting the UN MillenniumDevelopment Goals ahead of schedule.

A community-level health servicesystem covering urban and rural areas is in place. The number of health serviceinstitutions increased to 987,000 in 2017, up by 480 percent from 1978, withhealth professionals growing by 260 percent to 8.98 million in 2017. Basicpublic health services have improved, with national vaccination coverage amongchildren topping 90 percent, and the prevalence ofHBsAgin children under five decreasing to 1 percent. China has set up theworld’s largest online direct reporting system ofnotifiableepidemics and public health emergencies, and the average reporting time hasbeen shortened to four hours. The national fitness program has thrived, withmore than 1.7 million sports venues across the country.

Expanded socialassistance.Through years ofeffort, China has formed a social assistance system with subsistenceallowances, assistance and support for people in extreme difficulty, disasterrelief, medical assistance, housing assistance, education assistance,employment assistance,and temporaryassistance as the main forms, supplemented by public participation. Asubsistence security system has been set up nationwide. Regulations onSubsistence Security for Urban Residents and InterimMeasures for Social Assistance have been enacted. Decisions on Improvingthe Assistance and Support System forPeople in Extreme Difficulty provide assistance to two groups of people– urban residents without income, the ability to work, or support byfamily, and rural people eligible for the “Five Guarantees”: thosewho are unable to work and have no source of income, including the elderly, thedisabled and minors who have no legal guardians to support them.

By the end of 2017, 37,494 towns,townships andneighborhoodshad set up socialassistance agencies, staffed by 104,673 full-time and part-time personnel– an average of 2.6 per unit. As of September 2018 there were 46,199,000people living on subsistence allowances, consisting of 10,688,000 urbanresidents receiving an average of RMB575 per month, and 35,511,000 ruralresidents receiving an average of RMB4,754 per annum. All rural subsistenceallowance standards at the county level meet or exceed the national povertyline.

In 2017 medical assistance was grantedto 91,381,000 applications, in the form of direct payment for medical servicefor 35,171,000 people, and as subsidies for 56,210,000 poor people when joiningthe basic medical insurance. Between January and September 2018 temporaryassistance was given to 5,658,000 applications, averaging RMB1,069.4per application.

Stronger protectionof environmental rights.Overthe past four decades China has incorporated ecological progress into thenational development strategy and intensified its efforts in environmentalgovernance, creating a better environment and effectively safeguardingpeople’s environmental rights. China’s first EnvironmentalProtection Law was adopted in 1979. Environmental protection was first includedas a salient part of the plan for national economic and social development in1982, and was designated as a basic state policy in 1983. China’s Agenda21 passed in 1994 made China the first country in the world to formulate andimplement a strategy of sustainable development.

Committed to green development,China puts an enormous effort into pollution control and takes concrete stepsto promote ecological progress toward a beautiful China. The 19th CPC NationalCongress sounded a clarion call to win the battle against pollution. The NationalConference on Environmental Protection establishedXiJinpingthought on ecological progress. The CPCCentral Committee and the State Council issued the Decisions on ComprehensivelyStrengthening Environmental Protection and Resolutely Winning the BattleAgainstPollution, setting out the timetable, road map andagenda for pollution prevention and control. In 2017 coal accounted for 60.4percent of China’s total energy consumption, down by 10.3 percentagepoints from 1978. The proportion of clean energy sources, including naturalgas, water, nuclear, wind and electricity, has increased from 6.6 percent in1978 to 20.8 percent in 2017. Between 2013 and 2017, the average PM₁₀intensity in 338 cities at and above the prefecture level nationwide fell by22.7 percent, and the average PM_2.5intensity in 74 major citiesfell by 34.7 percent. In 2017, trees were planted on 7.36 million hectaresacross the country and forest coverage was 21.66 percent; the number of naturereservestotaled2,750, covering 1.47 million sq kmor 14.86 percent of China’s land territory.

China has played an active rolein global environmental governance, and ratified more than 30 multilateralconventions and protocols related to environmental protection. China was thefirst country to release a national plan on implementing the 2030 Agenda forSustainable Development and to deposit its instrument of ratification for theParis Agreement, becoming an important participant, contributor and leader inpromoting global ecological progress.

III. Fully Developing Human Rights

in All Respects

Over the past four decades since the launch of reform andopening up, China has taken all-round development of the human being as theintent and goal of human rights. It has made comprehensive progress in allhuman rights, ensured economic, social and cultural rights, and enhanced themechanisms guaranteeing civil and political rights.

Significant improvement in people’slives.Between 1978 and 2017, China’s GDP increased fromRMB367.9 billion to RMB82.7 trillion and per capita GDP from RMB385 to RMB59,660, a 22.8-fold increase, or a real growth of 8.5 percentper year adjusted for inflation. Per capita gross national income rose fromUS$200 in 1978 to US$8,690 in 2017, above the average level of upper middle-incomecountries. The per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents grewfrom RMB343 and RMB134 in 1978 to RMB36,396andRMB13,432 respectively in 2017.In 2017,national per capita consumer spending was RMB18,322,an 18-fold increase over 1978 or a real growth of 7.8 percent per year adjustedfor inflation. The country is moving from a society based on subsistence to onebased on plenty. The Engel coefficient of urban and rural households in 1978was 57.5 percent and 67.7 percent, which fell to 28.6 percent and 31.2 percentrespectively in 2017. China’s human development index (HDI) value hasrisen significantly from 0.423 in 1980 to 0.752 in 2017, gradually moving intoranks of countries with higher HDI. Among the 47 bottom-ranked countriesmeasured in 1990, China is the only one to haveriseninto the ranks of the “high human development” countries.

Increased protection of personal rights andright to dignity.The Constitution confirms citizens’right to dignity. The 19th CPC National Congress again emphasized theprotection of personal rights, property rights and right to dignity,demonstrating the humane view of protecting dignity and promoting the all-rounddevelopment of the human being. General Principles of the Civil Law and Tort LiabilityLaw further establish the system of protection for right to dignity.“Civil rights” as one chapter is included in General Provisions ofthe Civil Law to elaborate right to dignity. In August 2018, right to dignityas an individual book was contained in the draft Civil Code.

China has abolished the detention andrepatriation system and the reeducation through labor system. It is nowaccelerating the reform of the household registration system. In 2014,Decisions on Furthering the Household Registration Reform released by the StateCouncil relaxed the restriction on the transfer of household registration (hukou), enabling eligible regular residents withstable employment in urban areas to localize their residency. In 2017, theurbanization rate of registered population stood at 42.35 percent, up 7percentage points over 2012. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, more than 14million people withouthukouhave completed householdregistration, basically bringing the entire population into thehukousystem.

Inviolability of residence, freedomof correspondence and information securityarefully protected by law. In 2017, the public security agencies launched specialprograms to handle cases involving invasion of personal information toeffectively curb personal information leakage.

Legal protection ofproperty.The Constitutionstipulates that the private property of citizens is inviolable. The stateprotects citizens’ property rights and right of inheritance by law, aswell as the legitimate rights and interests of non-public commercial sectorssuch as the individual economy and private enterprise. The Property Lawspecifies that the property rights of the state, collectives, individuals and otherlegal persons are under the protection of law and shall not be infringed by anyunit or individual.

The household contract responsibility system thatentitles farmers to manage contracted public-owned land, implemented followingreform and opening up, is the cornerstone of China’s current rural landsystem. Since 2014, China has made solid efforts to confirm and register themanagement rights of contracted land, and to issue titles to land in ruralareas. By June 2018, 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalitiesdirectly under the central government) had finished this work, with the totalarea of contracted land reaching 1.39 billionmu. A total of 189 million land contracts had been signedand improved, and 135 million titles had been issued. The 19th CPC NationalCongress stated that the land contract relationship should sustain for theforeseeable future, and should be extended for a further 30 years after thesecond round of contracts expires.

Effective protection of the right to work.China highlightsemployment in its economic and social development, advocating a jobs-firststrategy and a more proactive employment policy to promote higher-quality jobsand maximum employment. As the economic structure is upgraded, reform of theemployment system deepens, gradually putting in place an employment mechanismadapted to the socialist market economy. From 1978 to 2017, China’semployed population increased from 401.52 million to 776.4 million. The averageannual growth of 9.61 million is faster than total population growth. Since2003, when a complete statistical system was put in place, the annual increaseof new jobs in urban areas has been 11.78 million, and the registered urbanunemployment rate has been low over many years, with the surveyed unemploymentrate lower than the world average.

The average yearly income of urban employees rose fromRMB615 in 1978 to RMB76,121in 2017, an annualincrease of 7.7 percent in real terms. The right of remuneration for labor,right to rest and leisure, right to occupational safety and health, specialright of women workers and the right to participate in the democraticmanagement of businesses are protected by law. The labor contract mechanism,the collective contractmechanism, andcollective consultation are all being implemented. A government-tradeunion-enterprise tripartite coordination mechanism, a labor securitysupervision mechanism, and a labor dispute settlement mechanism have all beenset up to protect the legitimate rights and interests of workers. In 2017, 90percent of enterprise employees had signed labor contracts. A workplace safetyand accident prevention and control system to protect laborers is beingimplemented and constantly improved.

Extended protection of the right to socialsecurity.China has built thelargest-scale social security system covering the largest population of theworld, raising the world social security coverage rate by 11 percentage points.By June 2018, 925 million people had been covered by basic endowment insurance,191 million by unemployment insurance, and 230 million by work-related injuryinsurance. The basic medical insurance system providing basic medical insurancefor urban workers, basic medical insurance for urban residents, and new-typerural cooperative medical insurance for rural population covers more than 1.3billion people. A total of 1.15 billion people hold social security cards,representing 82.81 percent of the population.

China is comprehensively improving its social securitysystem based on its economic and social development. It has raised the basicpension of company retirees every year since 2005. Per capita governmentsubsidies for basic medical insurance for urban and rural residents rose fromRMB240 in 2012 to RMB490 in 2018. China is improving its capability in offeringsocial security services via information technology such as internet and bigdata. In 2016, a system was officially launched to provide for real-timesettlement of medical expenses for treatment incurred outside the province wherethe patient resides through the social security card.

Marked improvement in the protection of theright to education.China has made greatefforts in implementing the education-first strategy to modernize education andguarantee equal access to education for all. Government spending on educationis targeted to be no lower than 4 percent of GDP. From 2012 to 2017, nationalexpenditure on education totaled close to RMB21 trillion. The level of nationaleducation has significantly improved: The average years of schooling for thoseaged 15 and over rose from 5.3 in 1982 to 9.6 in 2017; the figure for theworking-age population reached 10.5.

Rapid progress has been made in preschool education. In2017, the total number of kindergartens stood at 255,000, an increase of 55.5percent over 1978, with the gross enrollment rate reaching 79.6 percent. ACompulsory Education Law was formulated and then revised to extend theenforcement of nine-year compulsory education. In 2017, there were 219,000public schools for compulsory education, accommodating 145 million students.The net enrollment rate of primary school-age children was 99.91 percent, thegross enrollment rate of middle school-age population was 103.5 percent, andthe completion rate of compulsory education was 93.8 percent. The availabilityof compulsory education has reached the average level of high-income countries.Availability of senior secondary education in China is now basically universal.In 2017, there were 24,600 senior high schools nationwide, with a total of39.71 million students on campus, an increase of 21.67 million over 1978. Therate of students entering high school was 94.9 percent, up 54 percentage pointsfrom 1978, and the gross enrollment rate of senior high school-age populationwas 88.3 percent, higher than the average level of mid- and high-incomecountries (86.7 percent). Higher education is developing vigorously. In 2017,there were 2,913 universities across the country, with 37.79 million studentson campus, representing a gross enrollment rate of 45.7 percent of college-agepopulation. A mass vocational education system has been built, contributingsignificantly to the popularity of high school education and higher education.

Full and effective protection of culturalrights.Government funding forcultural undertakings is increasing rapidly, from RMB444 million in 1978 toRMB85.58 billion in 2017, a yearly increase of 14.4 percent. The nationalpublic cultural service standards have been established, and the NationalGuiding Standards for Public Cultural Services (2015-2020) are beingintroduced. Many public cultural facilities have been opened to the public forfree. In 2017, there were 3,166 public libraries nationwide, with 109 sq m ofpublic library space per 10,000 people, an 11.1-fold increase over 1978. Thesepublic libraries contained 970 million volumes, and received 745 millionvisits. The total number of China’s museums stood at 4,721 in 2017, a12.5-fold increase over 1978. In 2017, they contained 36.62 million items, andreceived 970 million visitors.

Equal access to public cultural services is an importantgoal. By 2017, a total of 44,521 cultural centers and 340,560 comprehensivecultural service centers in villages and communities had been set up. Digitalcultural services are a new innovation in providing public cultural services.In 2017, public libraries had more than 1 billionebooks,221,000 computers, and 144,300 electronic readers. By 2017, the totalbroadcasting network had covered 99.81 percent of the population, and 99.07percent had had access to television; the database of the cultural informationresources sharing project and the digital library promotion project hadamounted to 700 terabytes. The Outline of the National Scheme for ScientificLiteracy (2006-2010-2020) and the Benchmark for the Scientific Literacy ofChinese Citizens have been formulated to popularize science and improve thepublic’s understanding and appreciation of science and culture.

Legal protection of the right to vote.The right to vote and tostand in elections is a basic right enshrined in the Constitution. China iscommitted to the development of socialist democracy and ensures that everyoneis entitled to an equal right to vote. It has enacted electoral laws for theNational People’s Congress and local people’s congresses, andorganization laws for local people’s congresses and governments. Theprinciples of universality, equality, direct election, indirect election andcompetitive election are applied. The Constitution stipulates,“All citizens of thePeople’s Republic of China who have reached the age of 18 shall have theright to vote and stand for election, regardless of ethnic status, race, sex,occupation, family background, religious belief,education, property statusand length of residence. Persons who havebeen deprived of political rights in accordance with the law shall not have theright to vote and stand for election.” China has amended electoral lawsand improved the election system to gradually ensure that both rural and urbanareas adopt the same ratio of deputies from the represented population inelections of people’s congress deputies, and all regions, ethnic groupsand fields have a certain proportion of deputies. In the new elections to thepeople’s congresses at county and township levels beginning in 2016, atotal of 900 million constituents cast votes for more than 2.5 milliondeputies. The makeup of deputies to the National People’s Congress isbecoming more representative. Among the 2,980 deputies to the 13th NationalPeople’s Congress in 2018 are 468 front-line workers and farmers, 613professional and technical personnel, 742 women, and 438 representatives ofethnic minorities.

Orderly development is seen incommunity-level democracy. Acommunity-level self-governance system is nowin place featuring self-governance by urban and rural residents, and democraticelection, consultation, decision-making, management and supervision. By 2017,more than nine rounds ofvillagerscommittee electionshad been held among villages across the nation. More than 98 percent of thesehad been conducted by direct election, with more than 95 percent of villagerstaking part. The participation rate of urban residents in the election ofneighborhood committees exceeds 90 percent.

Full protection of the right to know.Platforms are beingimproved to make government more open. In 2004, the State Council released theOutline of Comprehensively Advancing Administration in Accordance with theLaw, which promotes government transparency and requires administrative organsto disclose government information unless it relates to state secrets, tradesecrets under legal protection, and individual privacy. The public is entitledto access disclosed government information, and administrative organs shouldsupport this access. In February 2016, the General Offices of the CPC CentralCommittee and the State Council issued Decisions on Comprehensively PromotingGovernment Transparency, which introduced a power list, a responsibility list,and a negative list and encouraged administration to move online. As a result,31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the centralgovernment) have released the power lists of governments at provincial,prefectural and county levels. In 2015, all provinces disclosed their overallfinancial budgets, and in 2017, 105 central government departments disclosedtheir budgets.

By April 2017, 3,058 administration halls had been set upin local governments at and above the county level, covering 94.3 percent ofadministrations, and 38,513 service centers had been set up in townships andcommunities, covering 96.8 percent of administrations. Factory and villageaffairs are being made transparent. By September 2017, more than 5 millionenterprises and public institutions with trade unions had set up congresses ofworkers and staff, and 1.39 million enterprises were covered by regional(trade) congresses of workers and staff. 4.87 millionenterprisesand public institutions with trade unions had adopted a system of disclosinginformation to their employees. By 2017, 95 percent of villages nationwide hadmade village affairs transparent, more than 94 percent of counties wereproviding catalogues of disclosed village information, and 91 percent of villageswere making village affairs public on information boards.

Increased right to participate.The channels for publicparticipation in legislation and major administrative decision-making areconstantly broadening. A mechanism through which public opinion is consulted indrafting laws has been set up and improved. Since 2008, the state legislatureshave solicited public opinion on 139 draft laws, receiving 2.46 millioncomments from 590,000 people. Since 2013, the government has releasedannouncements inviting responses from the public and expanded channels andmultiplied means for soliciting opinions in drawing up plans for thelegislation work of the State Council. The citizens’ right to participatein administrative decision-making has been protected by law. A mechanism inwhich decisions are made in accordance with the law has been improved, whichrecognizes public participation, expert discussion, risk assessment, legalityreview and collective discussion as legal procedures in major administrativedecision-making. In this process, the effectiveness of public participation isemphasized, and the quality of expert discussion improved to makedecision-making more scientific, democratic and law-based.

Consultative democracy is applied extensively as amechanism at multiple levels. The consultative content and procedure areregulated, and the means, frequency and effect of consultation extended andincreased. Extensive consultation is conducted on matters concerning overalleconomic and social development and related to the vital interests of thepeople. Since reform and opening up, the national committee of the ChinesePeople’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) has conducted over2,000 investigations and consultations, received 135,111 proposals, recorded124,868 of them, published and transmitted 11,688 samples of public opinion,and adopted and carried out most of the proposals. By September 2018, there hadbeen 796,000 registered social organizations nationwide. They are active inurban and rural communities and help improve the level and ability of thepublic to express their demands, and to govern and serve themselves.

Multiple means to guarantee the right ofexpression.In 2017, a total of 36.8billion copies of newspapers, 2.6 billion issues of periodicals, and 9 billioncopies of books were published. By September 2018, the optical cable nationwidetotaled 41.31 million kilometers; there were 110.65 million broadband users inrural areas and 1.29 billion mobile broadband users. Penetration of mobile phoneswas 111.3 per hundred persons. By June 2018, there were 802 million internetusers across the nation, and 788 million of them accessed the internet throughmobile phones. Internet usage was 57.7 percent across thecountry,and 36.5 percent in rural areas.Onlineplatforms have been built to make expression convenient and efficient.Complaints reporting channels have been broadened through letters, visits,internet and telephone to multiply the means for the public to express theirdemands.

Continued efforts to improve the right ofsupervision.The National People’s Congress revisedthe Budget Law in 2014, and released Decisions on Building a Mechanism ofSoliciting Opinions of Deputies to People’s Congresses and the Public BeforeBudget Review in 2017 to make budgets transparent and place them underdemocratic supervision. In 2015, the Legislation Law was amended, specifyingthat it is necessary to respond to the requirement for review and discloseinformation to increase the citizens’ right to supervise.

The Standing Committee of the National People’sCongress should exercise their supervisory duties over the Constitution and thelaw, and improve the filing and review system by setting up a national unifiedplatform. The Standing Committee of the 12th National People’s Congressreceived 4,778 normative documents for filing, reviewed 188 administrativeregulations and judicial interpretations item by item, conducted specialreviews of targeted local regulations, studied 1,527 review suggestions raisedby the public and other organizations, and urged relevant departments tocorrect problems when they were found to be in conflict with current laws. From2012 to 2016, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congresscarried out 20 examinations of law enforcement. Between 2016 and 2017, itinspected the enforcement of 12 laws concerning the immediate interests of thepublic such as Food Safety, Workplace Safety, Environmental Protection, andRoad Traffic Safety.

The CPPCC has actively explored and improved thedemocratic supervision system and offered criticism and suggestions regardingproblems arising in implementation. In 2017, the 12th CPPCC National Committeeinvestigated and researched 20 supervisory issues, which accounted for 28percent of its total investigations and researches. In 2015, the correspondingfigures were 12 and 11 percent. The Plan for Deeper Reform of thePeople’s Supervisor System has been implemented to extend thepublic’s right of scrutiny.

Legal guarantee for freedom of religiousbelief.China follows policies onfreedom of religious belief. Based on its national and religious conditions,China protects citizens’ right to freedom of religious belief, buildsactive and healthy religious relationships, and maintains religious and socialharmony. The Chinese government, in accordance with the Constitution and thelaw, supports all religions in upholding the principle of independence andself-management; religious groups, clerical personnel and believers managetheir own religious affairs. The state manages religious affairs involvingnational and public interests, but does not interfere in the internal affairsof religions. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has comprehensivelypromoted the rule of law and included religious work in the national governancesystem to improve its law-based management. The state treats all religionsfairly and equally, and does not exercise administrative power to encourage orban any religion. No religion is given preferential treatment over otherreligions to enjoy special legal privileges. The major religions practiced inChina are Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, and Catholic and Protestant Christianity,involving a total of nearly 200 million believers and more than 380,000clerical personnel. At present, there are about 144,000 places of worshipregistered for religious activities and 91 religious schools in China. Socialsecurity for religious clerical personnel has been enhanced. By the end of2017, 96.5 percent of clerical personnel had been covered by medical insurance,and 89.6 percent by old-age insurance, and all eligible personnel had beencovered by subsistence allowance welfare – almost all clerical personnelhad been covered by the social security system in China.

IV. Ensuring the Rights of Special Groups

Over the 40 years since reformand opening up was introduced in 1978, China has improved various mechanismsfor ensuring its citizens’ rights, adopting targeted measures to createopportunities for special groups in pursuit of self-development and life goals.The legitimate rights of ethnic minority groups, women, children, the elderly,and the disabled are protected.

1.Rights of Ethnic Minority Groups

The right of ethnic minoritygroups in administering state affairs is effectively guaranteed.Theethnic autonomous regions enjoy the right of autonomy in extensive areas asprescribed by law, including autonomy in the fields of politics, the economy,education, science and technology, culture, and health. All 55 minority groupshave deputies and members at the National People’s Congress (NPC) and theChinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The 13th NPChas 438 deputies from ethnic minority groups, accounting for 14.7 percent ofthe total number of deputies. The standing committees of people’scongresses in all 155 ethnic autonomous areas have citizens from the ethnicgroups exercising regional autonomy acting as director or deputy director. Thechairpersons of autonomous regions, governors of autonomous prefectures, andheads of autonomous counties and banners are all citizens from the ethnicgroups exercising regional autonomy of the said areas. In the 11thPeople’s Congress of Tibet Autonomous Region, the director and half ofthe deputy directors of the standing committee, and two-thirds of the deputies,are from the Tibetan or other ethnic minority groups.

The economy of ethnic minorityareas has experienced rapid growth.The total GDP of the five autonomous regions of Inner Mongolia,Guangxi, Tibet,NingxiaandXinjiang, and the three provinces ofYunnan,GuizhouandQinghaihasgrown from RMB32.4 billion in 1978 to RMB8.49 trillion in 2017. Theimpoverished population in these regions has dropped from 50.4 million in 2010to 10.32 million in 2017, with 40.08 million people shaking off poverty and theincidence of poverty reduced from 34.5 to 6.9 percent. From 2012 to 2017 thecentral government allocated RMB24.5 billion from the state poverty alleviationfund to support the development of ethnic minority groups. With the release ofthe Program for Developing Ethnic Minority Areas and Ethnic Groups with SmallPopulations During the 13th Five-Year Plan Period and the Program forRevitalizing Border Areas and Enriching the PeopleDuringthe 13th Five-Year Plan Period, China aims to achieve a big stride in socialand economic development in these areas.

Education in ethnic minorityareas has developed rapidly.China has adopted aseries of measures to promote educational equality and ensure ethnicminorities’ right to education. These measures include: opening schoolsfor students from ethnic minority groups, using bothPutonghua(standard Chinese) and ethnic languages in school education, givingpreferential treatment to students from ethnic minority groups when they takeexams to enter higher levels of education, and running residential schools infarming and pastoral areas. In Tibet Autonomous Region, students enjoy freeboard and lodging and are exempt from study costs from preschool to senior highschool – a total of 15 years. In southXinjiang,students also enjoy 15 years of zero-cost education, and those in rural areasare provided with free three-year preschool education both inPutonghuaand ethnic languages. Middle and high schoolstudents from Tibet andXinjiangcan attend specialclasses at schools in more developed areas of the country. High schoolgraduates from ethnic groups can attend preparatory courses or special classesat colleges and universities, and university graduates from ethnic groups canapply for a national high-level professional development program which trainsand sends them to workin designatedplaces. All this has ensured that students from ethnic minority groupshave access to quality education.

The right to use and develop thespoken and written languages of ethnic minorities is respected and fullyprotected.In China, with the exception of theHuiand Manchu peoples who generally use Han Chinese, theother 53 ethnic minorities have their own spoken languages, and 22 groups use atotal of 27 written systems. The Chinese government protects the legitimate useof the spoken and written languages of ethnic minorities in the areas ofadministration and judicature, press and publishing, radio, film andtelevision, and culture and education. The state has established a database forthe endangered languages of China’s ethnic minority groups, and initiatedthe Program for Protecting China’s Language Resources. Public culturalservices in ethnic minority areas have been further improved. By 2017 therewere 195 radio and 263 television stations in China’s ethnic autonomousareas broadcasting in 14 and 10 ethnic minority languages. The state providesbilingual education in ethnic minority areas, basically forming a bilingual educationsystem from preschool to higher education. By 2017 more than 12,000 primary andsecondaryschools cateringto ethnic minority studentsin China give courses in bothPutonghuaand minoritylanguages, with 210,000 teachers teaching such courses to 3.2 million students.

Cultural heritage and relics inethnic minority areas are protected.TheChinese government attaches great importance to the preservation anddevelopment of ethnic minority cultures. It has promulgated laws, establishedgovernment bodies, and increased spending to develop the cultures of ethnicminority groups. Of all China’s cultural items included in theUNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List, 14 are from ethnicminorities. At national level, 492 (36 percent) of the first 1,372 culturalitems included in China’s intangible cultural heritage list are fromethnic minorities. Of the 3,068 representative trustees of China’sintangible cultural heritage, 862 (28percent) are from ethnic minority groups. Chinahas set up 21state-level cultural preservation experimental areas, 11 of which are locatedin ethnic minority areas. Twenty-five provinces, autonomous regions andmunicipalities directly under the central government have institutions thatcatalogue and study ancient classics and recordings of ethnic minorities. Thecentral and local governments have funded the conservation and renovation ofmany historical and cultural sites, including theGaochangAncient City Ruins,BeitingAncient City Site, andKashi’sIdKahMosque. Morethan 3,000 precious cultural relics have been conserved and renovated.Traditional Tibetan medicine, the Epic of KingGesar,traditional songs and dances, handicrafts, and other important items ofintangible cultural heritage have been protected.

Ethnic minority groups’right to freedom of religious belief has been fully protected.Religiousbeliefs and normal religious activities are protected by law. At the momentTibet Autonomous Region has 1,778 venues for practicing Tibetan Buddhism, andsome 46,000 resident monks and nuns. The Living Buddha reincarnation is asuccession system unique to Tibetan Buddhism, and is respected by the state andgovernments at different levels of the autonomous region, the state havingissued the Measures on the Management of the Reincarnation of LivingBuddhasof Tibetan Buddhism. Tibet now has 358 LivingBuddhas, more than 60 of whom have been confirmed throughhistorical conventions and traditional religious rituals.

The system whereby TibetanBuddhist monks study sutras has been improved. By 2017 a total of 84 monks fromTibet had received senior academic titles inLhasaand 168 in Beijing. China has published translations of the religious classicsof Islam, Buddhism, Christianity and other religions in multiple languages tosatisfy normal religious needs. More than 1.76 million copies of theQuranandSelections from Al-SahihMuhammadIbn-Ismailal-Bukharihave beendistributed. The Tibetan Buddhist canons have been revised and published, and1,490 copies of the canonKangyurhave been given tomonasteries for monks, nuns and religious persons to study. To improve theself-management capacity of religious groups, the state offers trainingsessions to clerics on interpreting scriptures, and to persons who managevenues for religious activities. Since 2011 the National Religious AffairsAdministration has organized over a dozen training sessions on interpretingIslamic scripture, and trained several hundred clerics fromXinjiang.The central government supports theXinjiangIslamicInstitute in expanding its campus, improving teaching conditions, and enrollingmore students.

2.Rights of Women, Children and the Elderly

Women’s rights to equalparticipation in the administration of public affairs andsocioeconomicdevelopment are protected.China has takennumerous solid measures to implement the basic state policy of gender equality,and amended the Law on the Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests.The proportion of female officials at each level of officialdom has increasedsteadily, and the number of female officials in Party and government organs hasgrown from 422,000 at the beginning of reform and opening up to 1.9 million in2017, accounting for 26.5 percent of all officials. Women participate fully in theadministration and discussion of state affairs. The 13th NPC has 742 femaledeputies (24.9 percent), and the 13th CPPCC National Committee now has 442female members (20.5 percent). At the 2018 sessions of the provincialpeople’s congresses and political consultative conferences, women made up27.33 percent and 25.69 percent of all deputies and members.

The state has strengthenedeconomic empowerment for women, helping them to start businesses and seekemployment. In 2016, women employed nationwide accounted for 43.1 percent ofthe total employedpopulation. To engagewomen in employment and entrepreneurship, China has introduced thesmall-sum guaranteed loan with financial discount. By June 2018, a total ofRMB359 billion had been issued in guaranteed loans to 6.34 million women tostart businesses, and the government hadallocatedRMB39 billion for interest discount. By September 2017, 1.37million collective contracts for protectingfemale workers’ rights and interests had been signed nationwide, coveringalmost 80 million female workers in 3.15 million enterprises. In the 592poorest counties which are the main targets of national poverty alleviation anddevelopment work, the incidence of poverty of the female population decreasedfrom 20.3 percent in 2005 to 9.8 percent in 2010.

Health services for women andchildren have improved.China hasstrengthened healthcare programs for women and children to safeguard theirright to health. It has improved the distribution of health resources, andincreased spending on maternal and child healthcare programs in rural, borderand remote areas. From 2012 to 2016 about 48 million rural women received statesubsidies for delivery of their babies in official institutions. In 2017 thestate provided free checkups for 11.73 million rural couples planning forpregnancy, covering 91.7 percent of the target population. In June 2009 thegovernment launched a program of free cervical and breast cancer checkups forrural women, providing free cervical cancer checkups for 70 million and freebreast cancer checkups for 10 million by 2017. Between1991 and 2017 themortality rate of children under five decreased from 61 per thousand to 9.1. In2016 the underweight rate for children under five decreased to 1.49 percent.The corresponding rates for growth retardation and incidence ofanemiawere 1.15 percent and 4.79 percent. The governmenthas initiated a program to provide safe water storage for people, especiallywomen, in the western parts of China, so that they have reliable sources ofdrinking water. By 2017, a total of 3.04 million people had received help fromthe program and had access to safe drinking water.

Protection and assistance forwomen and children have been enhanced.China has taken judicial action against domestic violence at the grassrootslevel. It has experimented with an adjudication system of personal securityprotection against domestic violence, and courts conducting this pilot programhave expanded from 5 provinces in 2008 to14 in 2015. In 2015 China promulgatedthe Anti-Domestic Violence Law, which has played an important role in ensuringthe legitimate rights of family members including women, and maintaining equaland harmonious family relations. Amendment IX to the Criminal Law of thePeople’s Republic of China represents a major step forward in protectingwomen and children’srights andinterests; it specifies harsher punishments for the crimes of raping girlsunder the age of 14 and abducting and trafficking women and children.

To ensure the physical andpsychological health of minors and to protect their legitimate rights andinterests, China has promulgated the Law on the Protection of Minors and theLaw on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency, both amended in 2012. In 2009the Ministry of Public Security developed the world’s first DNA databasefor finding abducted children, having helped 5,500 children reunite with theirfamilies to date. On the “Tuan Yuan” (Reunion) online platforminitiated in 2016, a total of 3,419 items on missing children had been postedby September 2018, which had helped recover 3,367 children. In 2017 China had663 child adoption and assistance institutions with 103,000 beds, accommodating59,000 persons. By 2017 some 780,000 rural children left at home by theirmigrant worker parents had been provided with effective guardianship, 180,000previously unregistered left-at-home rural children had been registered, and17,000 had been returned to school.

The mechanism for protecting therights and interests of the elderly has improved.In2017 some 240 million Chinese were aged 60 or above, accounting for 17.3percent of the total population. Since 2012 China has amended the Law onProtecting the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, and released more than 70policy papers, such as the Decisions on Accelerating the Development of theOld-Age Service Industry and the Program for Developing China’s Old-AgeServices and System Building During the 13th Five-Year Plan Period, forming alegal and policy framework for old-age care.

Before reform and opening upChina’s elderly were mainly cared for in nursing homes. Now more of themreceive home care and community services, but can still choose nursing homes orfacilities with medical care services. New models of old-age care such as“mutual support” in rural areas are also expanding. By 2017 Chinahad 155,000 institutions with 7.45 million beds to provide old-age services,including nursing homes, community-based old-age service facilities, and“mutual support” facilities – a stark contrast with just8,000 nursing homes in 1978. The state has strengthened social assistance andwelfare for the elderly, providing subsistence allowances to 17.8 millionelderly persons in need and supporting 4.1 million elderly persons in extremepoverty with government funding. By 2017 the allowances for impoverished seniorcitizens over the specified age had covered all provinces, which had alsoreleased preferential policies for the elderly. To enrich the cultural life ofthe elderly, there are now 49,000 schools for the elderly with more than 7million students, and 350,000 activitycenters.

3.Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The laws ensuring the rights andinterests of persons with disabilities have been improved, and the governmenthas placed work in relation to the disabled high on its agenda. As societypromotes equality, participation and sharing of benefits for the disabled, theyhave fared better in terms of quality of life, development, and participationin social affairs.

The mechanism for ensuring therights and interests of the disabled has improved.Chinahas formulated a system of laws to ensure disabled persons’ rights,including the Law on the Protection of Disabled Persons. By April 2018 thestate had promulgated more than 80 laws and 50 administrative regulationsdirectly relating to the protection of the rights and interests of thedisabled. Having included the development of disabled persons in the nationaldevelopment strategy, China has released seven five-year plans for thedevelopment of the disabled, including overall plans for ensuring their rights.China has also established a Disability Prevention Day. All levels ofgovernment have improved their work mechanisms in matters related to thedisabled, coordinating efforts for theirwellbeing.By 2017 China had 2,600 legal assistancecentersand2,500 legal assistance windows for the disabled, as well as 1,746 legalassistance stations funded by disabled persons’ associations at variouslevels. The government has significantly increased spending on the disabled. In2017 the central budgetary investment grew by 458 percent compared to theprevious five-year period, establishing 3,822 service facilities for thedisabled.

The disabled persons’ rightto social security is ensured. China has establisheda subsidy system for the living expenses of disabled persons in need and to pay the nursing costs of persons with severedisabilities,benefitting21 million disabledpersons. By 2017 a total of 26.15 million disabled persons were covered in old-ageinsurance schemes in both urban and rural areas, with 10.42 million receivingold-age pensions. Of the 5.47 million severely disabled people under the age of60 who took part in such schemes, 5.29 million had received insurance subsidiesfrom the government, which paid for 96.8 percent of their premiums.Impoverished disabled persons subscribing to basic medical insurance pay areduced premium, andkinesitherapyand 28 othermedical rehabilitation programs are now covered by basic medical insurance.

The system for ensuring disabledpersons’ right to rehabilitation has improved.Chinahas introduced programs on preventing disabilities and implemented targetedrehabilitation programs, so that every disabled person has access torehabilitation services. The state has issued the Regulations on the Preventionof Disabilities and Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons, building rehabilitationcenterswith standard practices and operating models,and developing professionals capable of delivering consistent quality services.By 2017 there were 833 rehabilitation facilities at the provincial, city andcounty levels nationwide, and 8,334 professional rehabilitation services forthe disabled, with a team of 246,000 professionals. More than 2,000 counties(cities, districts) provided community rehabilitation services. A mechanism forproviding rehabilitation services to disabled children has been established.Eight provinces and municipalities now provide subsidies to the disabled whenthey buy assistance devices, lightening the economic burden of families withdisabled members. The state has improved the work-related injury rehabilitationsystem, and increased compensation for disabilities caused by work-relatedinjuries. In 2017 65.6 percent of disabled persons were covered byrehabilitation services.

Disabled persons’ right toeducation is better protected.China ensures thatthe disabled enjoy equal right to education. The government has promulgated andrevised the Regulations on Education for the Disabled, including theireducation in China’s Middle- and Long-Term Education Reform andDevelopment Program 2010-2020 and the Program for Equitable Access to BasicPublic Services During the 13th Five-Year Plan Period. China has twiceimplemented the Special Education Promotion Plan, striving to develop specialeducation and inclusive education to increase the level of education for thedisabled.

The state has established afunding system for disabled students from kindergarten to higher education. Inautumn 2016 China began to provide 12-year free education from primary tosenior high school for disabled students from poor families. By 2016 over 90percent of children with impaired eyesight, hearing or mental disability hadreceived compulsory education, and children with other types of disability alsohad increased access to education. The state encourages special educationschools to run preschool courses or kindergartens, and has provided funding fordisabled children receiving preschool education. In 2017 China had 112 seniorhigh classes (departments) in special education, with 8,466 students on campus,and 132 secondary vocational schools (classes) for the disabled, with 12,968students. 1,845 disabled persons studied at colleges of special education.China strives to develop inclusive education. In 2017 more than 300,000disabled students – over 50 percent of all disabled students receivingcompulsory education – studied at regular schools during the compulsoryeducation phase, and 10,818 disabled persons were enrolled at regularinstitutions of higher learning.

Disabled persons’ culturalrights are ensured.Cultural servicesfor the disabled have been included in the nation’s public culturalservices system. By 2017 China’s provincial- and prefecture-leveltelevision stations had run 285 programs employing sign language. Broadcastingstations had aired 223 radio programsspeciallyforthe disabled, and public libraries at the provincial, prefecture and countylevels had set up 959 reading rooms with books in Braille and audio books,providing some 25,000 seats. Each year, more than 2 million disabled personstake part in cultural weeks and enjoy charity performances and exhibitionsnationwide. To develop disabled arts, thestate holds a national disabled arts variety show every four years, withsome 100,000 disabled persons attending each time. Art troupes of the disabledhave grown quickly to 281 in number, and nearly 300,000 disabled persons workin the culture and arts industry. The government provides cultural services toimpoverished disabled persons, and to their families and communities. Throughthe “digital reading” promotion program for visually impairedpersons and many other programs, China offers quality cultural products andservices to its disabled population.

Disabled persons’ right toemployment is effectively guaranteed.The basic right of disabled persons to employment is strictly protected by law.In China, the provincial, city and county governments have established officesin service of disabled persons seeking employment. By 2017 there were nearly3,000 such offices with a staff of 15,000. China has initiated an occupationalskills promotion program for the disabled, setting up 500 state-level and 350provincial-level vocational training bases. Since 2013 the Chinese governmenthas kept files on employment and training for 18 million disabled persons, andeach year some 333,000 disabled persons enter the workforce. By 2017 more than9.42 million registered disabled persons were working in urban and rural areas.

More barrier-free facilities andassistance devices have been provided.Chinahas released the Regulations on the Building of Barrier-Free Environments, withprovisions on the building of barrier-free facilities, information exchange,and community services, in an effort to ensure that disabled persons canparticipate equally in social life. By 2017 a total of 451 laws, regulationsand normative documents on the construction and management of barrier-freefacilities had been issued at the provincial, prefecture and county levels.Between 2016 and 2017 the government helped 1.83 million families with disabledmembers renovate their homes with barrier-free facilities. China is movingfaster to provide barrier-free information services. By January 2018 more than500 government organs had set up barrier-free public service informationplatforms, and more than 30,000 websites on government affairs and publicservices are barrier-free. A total of 9,053 fitness facilities for the disabledhave been established, and 222,000 families with severely disabled members havereceived rehabilitation and fitness services. In 2017 2.44 million disabledpersons were provided with tactile sticks, visual aids, artificial limbs andother assistance devices. The disabled persons’ right to drive motorvehicles is protected. Some 160,000 disabled persons who have obtained theirdrivers’ licenses can now travel and take part in various activities morefreely.

V. Comprehensively Promoting

the Rule of Law for Human Rights

Over thefour decades since the launch of reform and opening up, from strengthening thelegal system, to governing the country by law, and thence to comprehensivelypromoting the rule of law, China has worked hard to protect human rightsthroughout. It hasendeavoredto ensure that awell-conceived approach is taken to legislation, that law is strictly enforced,that justice is impartially administered, and that the law is observed byeveryone. Striving to build a socialist country under the rule of law, it hasmade new progress in the legal protection of human rights.

1.Establishing the Legal Framework to Protect Human Rights

China has gradually established asocialist legal framework with Chinese characteristics. In this framework, the Constitutionis at the core, and laws related to the Constitution, the Civil Law, theCommercial Law, and other legal departments are the main body, covering laws,administrative regulations, and local laws and regulations at multiple levels.The laws and regulations covering all levels of human rights protection arerelatively complete.

The legal norms guaranteeingcivil and political rights have been improved.The Legislation Law stipulates that only the National People’s Congressand its Standing Committee have the power to legislate on matters concerningcriminal offences and penalties, compulsory measures and penalties involvingdeprivation of a citizen’s political rights or restriction of personalfreedom, the justice system, and others.

The Criminal Law establishesthree principles: 1)Anyact deemed by explicitstipulations of law as a crime should be prosecuted and punished as such, andany act not deemed by explicit stipulations of law as a crime is not to beprosecuted or punished. 2) Everyone is equal before the law in committingcrime. No one is permitted to have privileges to transgress the law. 3) Theseverity of punishments must be commensurate with the crime committed by anoffender and the criminal responsibility is to be borne by the offender.

The Criminal Procedure Lawcontains in its General Provisions the principle to “respect and protecthuman rights”. It also clearly stipulates the principle of presumption ofinnocence and the rules for the exclusion of illegal evidence. It proscribes criminalacts infringing upon citizens’ rights to life, health, freedom, property,etc. by law, while attaching importance to protecting the human rights enjoyedby criminal suspects, accused persons, and criminals in accordance with thelaw.

The Election Law, Law onAssemblies, Processions and Demonstrations, Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy,and administrative regulations on religion, letters and visits, publishing, andassociation registration have clear articles on the protection of civil andpolitical rights.

The National Security Law,Counter-Espionage Law, Counter-Terrorism Law, Cyber Security Law, NationalIntelligence Law, Nuclear Safety Law and other laws provide a solid legal basisfor guaranteeing personal and property security, public security and nationalsecurity.

The legal norms guaranteeingeconomic, social and cultural rights have been improved.Chinahas enacted the General Principles of the Civil Law, General Provisions of theCivil Law and other civil laws to protect citizens’ personal rights,right to dignity, and property rights.

It has enacted the EmploymentPromotion Law,LaborContract Law,TradeUnion Law, Law on the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases, andother laws to guarantee citizens’laborrights.

It has promulgated the SocialInsurance Law, and established a sound social security system for urban andrural development, ensuring citizens’ right to social security.

It has formulated the Food SafetyLaw, Pharmaceutical Administration Law, Law on Prevention and Control ofInfectious Diseases, Law on Traditional Chinese Medicine, Law on PhysicalCulture and Sports, Regulations on National Fitness, and other laws andregulations to protect citizens’ right to life and health.

It has enacted and revised theEducation Law, Compulsory Education Law, Higher Education Law, Teachers Law andother laws to promote balanced development of education and protectcitizens’ right to education.

It has formulated the CulturalRelics Protection Law, Intangible Cultural Heritage Law, Public CulturalService Guarantee Law, Film Industry Promotion Law, Law on Public Libraries,Regulations on Museums, and Regulations on Public Cultural and SportsFacilities, and other laws and regulations to enrich public cultural servicesand extend citizens’ cultural rights and interests.

It has gradually improved thelegal system of intellectual property protection with the Patent Law, TrademarkLaw and Copyright Law at the core in the efforts to protect by law intangibleproperty rights, strengthen intellectual property protection, motivate subjectsof innovation, and promote application of intellectual property rights.

It hasenacted the Environmental Protection Law, Atmospheric Pollution Prevention andControl Law, Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law, Water PollutionPrevention and Control Law, Marine Environment Protection Law, Water and SoilConservation Law, and other environmental laws and regulations, and establishedprocedures and rules for environment-related tort litigation and public interestlitigation to provide a solid basis for guaranteeing people’senvironmental rights.

2.Establishing a Strict and Impartial Law Enforcement System for Human RightsProtection

China has constantly strengthenedlaw-based administration. By building a law-based government that haswell-conceived functions and statutorily-defined powers and responsibilities,strictly enforces the law,and is open andimpartial, clean and efficient, and credible and law-abiding,it has made the effective protection ofpeople’s rights and interests a criterion and an ultimate goal ofgovernment. It respects and protects human rights in strictly enforcing the lawon behalf of the people.

Delimitingadministrative power in accordance with the law.China has established a principle for administrative law enforcement thatadministrative bodies should not do things not mandated by law, introduced alist of well-defined government powers and a list of responsibilities, andprohibited any power not provided for by law, or any illegal use of power. TheAdministrative Litigation Law provides a clear legal basis for supervisingadministrative bodies’ exercise of powers in accordance with the law andsafeguarding the legitimate rights of citizens.Since the lawwas enacted and came into force, on average more than 100,000 administrativecases have been accepted each year.In its effort to improve governance,China has accelerated the transformation of government functions, streamliningadministration and delegating power to the lower levels, exercising bettersupervision over the market, and providing efficient services to business. Ithas cut down the number of items subjecttoadministrative examination and approval by the State Council departments,completely ruled out examination and approval for non-administrative licenses,and substantially reduced enterprise investment projects subject to approval bycentral authorities, intermediary services subject to administrativeexamination and approval, and licensing and recognition of professionalqualifications.

Improving proceduresfor administrative law enforcement.China has established a sound system of benchmarks for administrativediscretion, specifying the standards for administrative discretion as well asdefining its scope, categories, and scale. It has improved the systems forconducting investigations, collecting evidence, notifying people subject to theadministrative law enforcement of their right, managing confiscated income, andother areas of administrative law enforcement, clarified the conditionsapplicable to hearings, strictly implemented the system for reviewing thelegality of major administrative law enforcement decisions, and carried out thesystem of creating legal counsel teams in government departments at all levels.It has implemented a system of disclosing information on administrative lawenforcement and a system for recording the entire enforcement process so thatevery case of such enforcement is traceable. It has strengthened IT applicationand information-sharing in administrative law enforcement, worked to establisha unified information platform for administrative law enforcement, and improvedthe online case handling and information inquiry system.

Promotingstrict, procedure-based, impartial and non-abusive law enforcement.China has made great efforts to regulate the exerciseof law enforcement powers, promoted transparency in law enforcement, and workedhard to build an efficient, convenient, fair and transparent law enforcementmechanism. It has improved the mechanisms of quality evaluation andaccountability of law enforcement, effectively regulating law enforcementofficials’ conduct and protecting the legitimate rights and interests ofpersons or parties subject to their actions. It has carried out pilot reformsof the comprehensive administrative law enforcement system, integrated lawenforcement functional departments, promoted comprehensive law enforcement, andstrengthened law enforcement in key areas.

China has improved thequalification management system for administrative law enforcement personnel,and required defined personnel to pass the unified national qualification examof legal profession. It has worked hard on every aspect of a law-abiding publicsecurity system and the quality of law enforcement by police, and it hasimplemented the system of qualification exams for law enforcement policeofficers. By the end of September 2018, 1,700,400 police officers all over thecountry had basic-level certification for law enforcement and 47,700 had gainedupper-level certification.

3.Effectively Enhancing Judicial Protection of Human Rights

Based on the Constitution,Organic Law of the People’s Courts, Organic Law of the People’sProcuratorates, and relevant procedure laws, China has putin place sound judicial institutions by which public security organs,procuratorialorgans, judicial organs, and judicialadministrative organs perform their own functions, and cooperate and check eachother in the exercise of the investigative,procuratorial,judicial, and enforcement powers. China has strengthened judicial protection ofhuman rights, improved the state compensation system and judicial assistancesystem, put people first in its judicial system, andendeavoredto embody fairness and justice in each and every legal case.

Promoting judicialprotection of human rights in extended judicial reform.China has issued four outlines for five-year reform of the people’scourts and three decisions on three-year reform of the people’sprocuratorates. The 18th CPC Central Committee incorporatedthe need to strengthen and improve judicial protection of human rights into theplan of deeper-level reform at the Third Plenary Session, and into the plan ofcomprehensively advancing the rule of law at the Fourth Plenary Session. It hasenabled the people’s courts to exercise judicial power and people’sprocuratoratesto exerciseprocuratorialpower independently and impartially in accordance with the law. It has carriedout unified management of personnel and financial assets at provincial level.The Circuit Court of the Supreme People’s Court has been set up, andpeople’s courts and people’sprocuratoratesacross administrative boundaries have been established. China has adopted aquota system for judges and procurators, enabling judicial personnel to be moreregularized and professional.

China has implemented a casedocketing and registration system toprotectthe rights of the parties concerned. It has further reformed the trial-centeredlitigation system to ensure that court trials playa decisive role in impartial adjudication, and implemented the judicialresponsibility system to strengthen supervision over judicial activities. Chinahas reformed and improved the system of people’s jurors to promotejudicial justice and enhance judicial credibility. It has established fourmajor platforms for releasing information on judicial process, trials, writtenjudgments, and the execution of judgments to promote judicial openness.

Ensuring that allparties enjoy the right to fair trial.China has fully guaranteed the right of criminal suspects and defendants todefense. A criminal suspect has the right to entrust adefender from the date when organs of investigation conduct the firstinterrogation or a compulsory measure is taken against the suspect. A defendanthas the right to authorize a defender at any time. It has launched a pilotprogram of full coverage of legaldefensein criminalcases to ensure that defendants in all criminal cases can obtain legaldefensein order to promote judicial justice.

China strictly follows theprinciple of evidence-based adjudication to resolutely prevent and correctwrongful convictions. Suspects are acquitted in accordance with the law when theevidence does not support the allegation that a crime has been committed. Chinastrictly controls and carefully uses the death penalty; the number of capitaloffences has been substantially reduced. In 2007, the Supreme People’sCourt took back the right to review all capital sentences.

China has established a soundlegal aid system and expanded its coverage to provide legal advice anddefensefor criminal suspects and defendants. As ofSeptember 2018, the country had established some 3,200 legal aid institutionsand more than 70,000 legal aid workstations, including some 2,500 in detentioncentersand 3,300 in courts, realizing full coverage oflegal aid workstations in detentioncentersandpeople’s courts.

Guaranteeing the legitimaterights and interests of criminal suspects, defendants, prisoners and peoplereleased after serving their sentence.China has published the Regulations on DetentionCenters,and is drafting the law on detentioncenters. Withthese, China further guarantees the dignity and legitimate interests ofdetainees, and the right to meet lawyers, appeal, and receive medicaltreatment. It has formulated and strictly enforced the Prison Law, ensuringthat criminals’ personal dignity is not violated, and their personalrights, right to life and health, and right to education are safeguarded, andthat prison affairs are open to the public. It has published the Provisions onMeetingsBetweenLawyers and Prison Inmates, andcarried out activities for prison inmates to leave prisons and visit relatives,effectively protecting the legal rights of convicted criminals.

China has established the systemof community correction. Community correction, or non-custodial correctionpenalties, was imposed on those whose crimes are relatively minor and who havebeen sentenced to public surveillance, probation, release on parole, andtemporary sanction outside prison. By the end of September 2018, a total of4.12 million persons throughout the country had received community correctionorders. Of these, 3.42 million had completed their correction, and 700,000 werestill subject to their correction orders. The recidivism rate in the case ofthose assigned to community correction is low, only 0.2 percent.

China has improved the assistanceand management system for people released after completing their prisonsentence. It provides subsistence allowances, temporary assistance and otheraids for those eligible, and carries out employment support policies to improvethe employability of people released upon completion of their sentence.

Improving the statecompensation system and judicial aid system.China has promulgated the State Compensation Law, and continued to improvesystems of administrative compensation, criminal compensation and non-criminaljudicial compensation. It has increased compensation for infliction of mentaldistress, raised standards of compensation, and guaranteed that compensation ispaid in a timely manner. The daily compensation for violation ofcitizens’ personal liberty has risen from RMB17.16yuanin 1995 to RMB284.74 in 2018. From 2013 to June 2018, the people’s courtsat all levels accepted 22,821 cases involving state compensation.

China has continued to improvethe judicial aid system. It has published Decisions on the Work of RelievingCriminal Victims and several other documents, while establishing a judicial aidcommittee to actively dovetail judicial aid with social assistance and legalaid. From 2013 to 2017, RMB2.67 billion of judicial aid was granted to helpvictims in difficultywhohad not been able to obtaineffective compensation.

Effectivelyresolving difficulties in the execution of court rulings and ensuring theinterests of successful litigants.China has established a sound mechanism for compulsory execution of civil judgmentdocuments and a legal system of credit supervision, warning and punishment overdishonest debtors who have failed to respect judgements. It has alsoestablished a national online check and control system about the execution ofcourt rulings, a network system for punishment of loss of credit, and aplatform for online judicial auctions. From 2016 to September 2018, courtsacross the country heard a total of 18.84 million applications for execution,of which 16.94 million (including terminated enforcement procedures) wereconcluded. They involved sums amounting to RMB4.07 trillion.

China has regulated judicialprocedures for securing, detaining, freezing, and handling assets involved,thus protecting the rights and interests of successful litigants while notinfringing the legal rights of judgement debtors.

4.Establishing a Tight Rule of Law SystemAgainstCorruption

China has worked hard to promotethe rule of law against corruption, and confine the exercise of power to aninstitutional cage, providing strong support for the legal protection of humanrights.

Improvinganti-corruption institutions.In1978,procuratorialorgans at all levels set upinternal units to act against corruption and bribery, and units of law anddiscipline inspection to crack down on all crimes of corruption, bribery andmalfeasance. The Supreme People’sProcuratorateset up the General AdministrationAgainstCorruptionand Bribery in 1995 and the Bureau Against Malfeasance and Tort in 2005. In2007, the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention was founded. In 2018, theConstitution of the PRC was amended, the Supervision Law was enacted, and theNational Supervisory Commission was set up, covering all public officialsexercising public power.

Resolutely fightingagainst corruption.The CPC and theChinese government have worked hard to enhance Party conduct, uphold cleangovernment, and fight corruption. Showing zero tolerance for corruption, thecampaign covers all those holding public office without exception. Chinaimposes tight constraints, maintains a tough stance and a long-term deterrence,punishes both those who take bribes and those who offer them, and maintains atough position on fighting corruption. From December 2012 to September 2018,commissions for discipline inspection and departments of supervision around thecountry filed a total of 2,153,000 cases and disciplined 2,132,000 persons.From December 2012 to September 2017, 58,000 cases of suspected criminalactivity were transferred to the judiciary.

China has resolutely foughtcorruption that directly affects ordinary people’s lives, especially inthe areas of poverty alleviation, education, medical care, food and medicine,and criminal syndicate-related “protection” rackets. From 2015 toSeptember 2018, a total of 399,800 cases of corruption and misconduct thatundermine the people’s interests were investigated, and 512,100 peoplewere dealt with.

China has strengthenedinternational cooperation against corruption, published a list of 100most-wanted fugitives, and organized a series of “Sky Net”operations. From 2014 to September 2018, 4,719 fugitives were brought back frommore than 120 countries and regions, including 54 on the list of 100most-wanted fugitives, and illegal assets worth RMB10.37 billion were recovered.

5.Building a Positive Atmosphere for the Legal Protection of Human Rights

Enhancing public awareness of therule of law for human rights and laying a strong foundation for the legalprotection of human rights.Since 1986, China hasimplemented seven nationwide five-year plans on enhancing public legalawareness,popularizingthe rule of law for humanrights. It has also carried out a responsibility program in which state lawenforcement departments are responsible for strengthening public legal awareness.China has set December 4 as National Constitution Day, and carried outconstitutional education to promote legal protection of human rights to thepublic. China has incorporated education on the rule of law and human rightsinto the national education system. Basic knowledge of human rights has beenintegrated into primary and secondary education, and human rights law and othercourses related to human rights are offered in universities.

China has set up national humanrights education and training bases. Professional periodicals includingHuman RightsandHuman Rights Studiesare published in China. Special human rights training programs are conductedfor officials at all levels and different strata or groups of people. Socialorganizations such as the China Society for Human Rights Studies have madegreat efforts to advance human rights research and education and promoteknowledge of the subject, laying a solid social foundation for safeguardinghuman rights.

VI. Facilitating the Development of

Human Rights in the World

Over the past 40 years of reformand opening up, China has redoubled its efforts to promote human rights,sharing its experience in this regard with the rest of the world, and creatingmore development opportunities for all countries. China follows the principleof achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration in globalgovernance, with a mission of making more and greater contributions tohumanity. China values the rights to subsistence, development and peace and allother human rights, and strives to further this cause throughout the world.

Increasing foreignassistance.Overthe years, China has provided foreign assistance to Asian and African developingcountries for use in poverty reduction, education, healthcare, agriculture andinfrastructure, involving major construction projects in agriculture, industry,transport, energy and power, information technology and communication, helpingresolve national problems and safeguard the local peoples’ life needs.

From 1950 to 2016, despite itsown limited development and living standards, China provided RMB400 billion offoreign aid to other countries, conducted over 5,000 foreign assistanceprojects – of which almost 3,000 are turn-key projects – andorganized 11,000 training programs in China for more than 260,000 persons fromother developing countries. By 2017 China had dispatched 25,000 medical workersto 72 countries and regions in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean,Europe and Oceania, who have treated 280 million patients and saved countlesslives, winning high praise from the governments and peoples of the recipientcountries.

Improving developmentcapacity.Inrecent years, PresidentXiJinpinghas announced a raft of foreign assistance initiatives and measures, whichfully demonstrate that China as a major country lives up to its responsibilityfor advancing the interests of humanity.

Within the framework ofSouth-South cooperation China has steadily expanded its assistance to otherdeveloping countries, with more efforts to build and improve platforms forregional cooperation, while fully relying on mechanisms such as the ShanghaiCooperation Organization (SCO), BRICS, the ASEAN Plus China (10+1) Summit,China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO),Lancang-Mekong Cooperation(LMC), the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), China-CELAC Forum, andChina-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF). All are designed to improve thedevelopment capacity of the countries involved.

China has proposed the Belt andRoad Initiative, initiated the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) andthe New Development Bank (NDB) for development projects in BRICS, set up theSilk Road Fund and the Assistance Fund for South-South Cooperation, and foundedtheCenterfor International Knowledge on Development(CIKD) and the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development (ISSCAD).All theabove are aimed to encourage the recipient countriesto enhance their capacity for self-development, reduce poverty, improve theirpeople’s living standards, and protect the environment.

The port-industry-city integrateddevelopment model, initiated by China and adopted by Djibouti, Colombo in SriLanka andKuantanin Malaysia, has been welcomed bythese Belt and Road countries.

China issteadily increasing foreign assistance training. By organizing trainingcourses, dispatching management personnel, technical professionals and youngvolunteers, and offering scholarships, China has provided advanced study andtraining for government officials, higher educationdegree and diploma programs, and technical training and exchange programs forvarious kinds of personnel from other developing countries, to sharedevelopment experience and technologies in a timely manner.

From 2013 to 2017, byestablishing economic and trade cooperation zones in the Belt and Roadcountries, China helped create more than 200,000 jobs in the host countries.Once the 10 major China-Africa cooperation programs are in place, they willhelp Africa add a total highway length of nearly 30,000 km, add clean watertreatment capacity of over 9 million tons/day, and create about 900,000 jobs.TheMombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR),which opened to traffic in 2017, has helped increase Kenya’s GDP by 1.5-2percent.

Providinghumanitarian relief.Inthe early days of reform and opening up, China’s humanitarian relieffocused on helping other developing countries respond to severe naturaldisasters. This included emergency aid to a number of African countriesstricken by severe droughts and to Bangladesh hit by windstorms.

After 2001, China increased itsparticipation in international humanitarian relief, taking an active part inactivities launched by UN organizations and expanding its share of aid year byyear.

Since 2004, China had providedover 300 international humanitarian relief programs, with an average annualgrowth rate of 29.4 percent. These relief programs mainly comprise:

•technicalaid to Southeast Asian countries against avian influenza;

•materialand personnel assistance and assistance in cash

•toGuinea-Bissau against locust plague and cholera,

•toMexico against A/H1N1 flu,

•toAfrica against Ebola, yellow fever, plague andother infectious diseases,

•toIran, Haiti, Chile, Ecuador and Mexico againstearthquakes,

•toMadagascar against hurricanes,

•toIndian Ocean countries against tsunami,

•toPakistan against floods,

•tothe US against Hurricane Katrina,

•toChile against mountain fires,

•tothe Caribbean countries against hurricanes;

•foodand goods assistance to the DPRK, Bangladesh and Nepal.

In March 2014 when Ebola brokeout in many West African countries, China provided four rounds of humanitarianrelief, with a total value of RMB750 million, and deployed more than 1,000experts and medical workers.

China has enacted laws andregulations on international humanitarian relief and improving its related workingmechanisms, and forged stronger cooperation on humanitarian relief with UNorganizations and NGOs. In 1979, China joined the United Nations InternationalChildren’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and World Food Program (WFP), resumedits activities in the Executive Committee of the United Nations HighCommissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and made many donations to the UNHCR. The RedCross Society of China (RCSC), China Charity Federation (CCF), China WelfareInstitute (CWI), China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) and privatecharities, along with legal persons of certain enterprises and societies inChina, have all engaged in international humanitarian relief, demonstrating tothe international community China’s sincere desire to engage in internationalhumanitarian relief and to protect human rights through tangible actions.

Safeguarding worldpeace.China,along with other countries, isconstantlycommitted to maintaining world peace, supporting international andregional anti-terror cooperation, and creating a peaceful and harmoniousenvironment for the development of human rights in the world. Chinahas made a significant contribution to the rightto peace by promoting development with peace and by consolidating peacethrough development.

In recent years, China hasprovided solutions to regional flashpoint issues: putting forward proposals andinitiatives for the Palestinian issue on many occasions; engaging in seriousnegotiations on the Iranian nuclear issue; actively mediating for the nationalreconciliation in South Sudan; pressing for a political settlement to theSyrian issue; promoting peace negotiations between the Afghan government andTaliban; and facilitating the political settlement of theKorean Peninsula issue.

China has firmly supported andvigorously participated in UN peacekeeping operations. In April 1990, Chinadispatched the first five military observers to the United Nations TruceSupervision Organization (UNTSO), marking China’s official participationin UN peacekeeping operations. By May 2018, China had dispatched 37,000military and 2,700 police personnel to participate in 30 UN peacekeepingmissions in Sudan, Lebanon, Cambodia, Liberia and other countries and regions.China ranks first in terms of the number of peacekeepers among the permanentmembers of the UN Security Council, and is the second largest donor country toUN peacekeeping operations. In September 2017, China completed the registrationof 8,000 standby peacekeeping forces in the UN.

These are the significantmeasures by which China has met its responsibilities as a major country,fulfilled its promise to support UN peacekeeping operations with concreteactions, and promoted the cause of human rights throughout the world.

VII. Active Participation in Global

Governance of Human Rights

Over the 40 years of reform andopening up, upholding the principles of equality and mutual trust,inclusiveness and mutual learning, and cooperation and win-win benefits, Chinahas been active in UN human rights undertakings, fulfilling its internationalhuman rights obligations, conducting extensive international cooperation onhuman rights, and advancing the global governance of human rights in a fair andrational direction.

Fulfillingobligations in international instruments on human rights.To date, China hassigned 26 international human rights instruments, including six major ones suchas the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and theInternational Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of RacialDiscrimination.

Chinafulfillsall the obligations prescribed in relevant international conventions, ensuringthat its legislation and any amendments as well as its policy formulation areconsistent with these conventions, and completing and submitting periodicreports to give feedback on the progress made and any difficulties and problemsencountered in implementing international conventions on human rights.

China accepts reviews from thetreaty body on its implementation of these conventions. By August 2018, Chinahad submitted 39 implementation reports on 26 occasions to these treaty bodiesand received 26 reviews. During the reviews, China conducted constructivedialogue with the relevant treaty bodies and adopted their suggestions in accordancewith the actual conditions in China.

Chinasupports the necessary reform of the human rights treaty bodies,promoting dialogue and cooperation between the treaty bodies and signatorystates on the basis of mutual respect.

China recommends Chinese expertsas candidate members of the treaty bodies, many of whom have been chosen toserve on bodies such as the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social andCultural Rights, the United Nations Committee against Torture, the UnitedNations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the UnitedNations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and theUnited Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Participating inestablishing international rules and mechanisms for protecting human rights.Since the launch ofreform and opening up in 1978, China has attended the meetings of the draftinggroups of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or DegradingTreatment or Punishment, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, theConvention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the InternationalConvention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Membersof Their Families, the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic,Social and Cultural Rights and other important documents on human rightsprotection, making a significant contribution to drafting, revising andimproving these rules.

As one of the major promoters,China participated in drafting the Declaration on the Right to Development,assisting the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) and the UnitedNations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to organize global discussions onfulfilling the right to development, and is committed to building mechanisms foractualizingthe right to development.

In 1993, China pushed for theadoption of the Bangkok Declaration among Asian countries. The same year, asthe vice presidency of the Second World Conference on Human Rights, Chinaparticipated in drafting the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action. In 1995in Beijing, China hosted the Fourth World Conference on Women.

Since 2006, China has supportedUNHRC in establishing specialized mechanisms for securing safe drinking water,cultural rights, and the rights of persons with disabilities, in calling forspecial conferences on food security and global financial crisis, and inimproving the international mechanisms for protecting human rights.

China is one of the firstcountries that attended the UN Climate Change Conference. China is anenthusiastic participant and an effective proponent in international climatenegotiations, and has contributed to the adoption of the Paris Agreement. Chinahas facilitated the formulation and implementation of the 2030 Agenda for SustainableDevelopment by the United Nations.

Engaging in UN humanrights undertakings.From1979 to 1981, China attended the meetings of the UNCHR as an observer state. In1981, China was elected a member state of the UNCHR at the meeting of theUnited Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). In 1982, China became anofficial member state of the UNCHR and has maintained this position ever since.Since 1984,a succession of experts recommended by China havebeen elected members and alternate members of the United Nations Sub-commissionon the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. China takesan active part in discussions and negotiations of relevant issues in the UNCHR.

To build a fair, objective andtransparent international mechanism for protecting human rights, China is avigorous proponent of reform of the UN special mechanisms for protecting humanrights; it played a significant role in the negotiations and final vote onestablishing the UNHRC. Since March 2006, China has been elected a UNHRC memberstate four times. China maintains constructive contacts with the United NationsOffice of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), encouraging the OHCHRto perform its duties fairly and objectively, and directing more attention tothe concerns of developing countries.

Chinaconducts cooperation with the Special Procedures of the HumanRights Council. Since 1994, China has invited the following UN representativesto visit the country: the United Nations SpecialRapporteuron Freedom of Religion or Belief, the United Nations Working Group on ArbitraryDetention, the United Nations SpecialRapporteuronthe Right to Education, the United Nations SpecialRapporteuron Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, theUnited Nations SpecialRapporteuron the Right toFood, the United Nations Working Group onthe Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the United NationsIndependent Expert on the Effects of Foreign Debt and Other RelatedInternational Financial Obligations of States on the Full Enjoyment of AllHuman Rights, Particularly Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the UnitedNations SpecialRapporteuron Extreme Poverty andHuman Rights. China handles letters from the Special Procedures of the HumanRights Council with due attention, carrying out any necessary investigationsand giving timely replies.

China isdeeply involved in international mechanisms for protecting human rights,assisting multilateral human rights organizations to address such issues in afair, objective andnonselectivemanner. China hasimplemented the suggestions adopted during the first and second UniversalPeriodic Review (UPR) cycles, and is actively participating in the third UPRcycle. China has beenreelecteda member state of theUnited Nations Committee on Non-governmental Organizations. Chinese expertshave been appointed members of the UNHRC Advisory Committee and the WorkingGroup on Situations. China encourages its NGOs to participate vigorously in theUNHRC and other human rights protection mechanisms.

Conducting extensiveinternational exchanges and cooperation concerning human rights.China is committed topromoting constructive dialogue and cooperation on human rights with othercountries based on equality and mutual respect, and to organizing extensiveexchanges to this end. Since the 1990s, China has established dialogue andnegotiation mechanisms for human rights protection with more than 20 othercountries. China has organized dialogue and exchanges on human rights andexchanges between legal experts, and technical cooperation on human rights withinternational organizations and Western countries, including the US, the EU,the UK, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand, to enhancecommunication, understanding and mutual learning between governmentaldepartments, judicial organs and academia. China has held human rightsdiscussions with Russia, Egypt, South Africa, Brazil, Malaysia, Pakistan,Belarus, Cuba and the African Union, to share experience and enhancecooperation.

In recent years, China has hostedseveral international forums and seminars on human rights in Beijing, includingthe Conference Commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the Adoption of the Conventionon the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2016), the 16th InformalAsia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Seminar on Human Rights (2016), the InternationalSeminar Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the Adoption of the Declarationon the Right to Development (2016), and the First South-South Human RightsForum (2017). All of these have strengthened international dialogue andexchanges on human rights. The China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS)and other human rights NGOs in China promote exchanges and cooperation on humanrights. They have organized the Beijing Forum on Human Rights on nineoccasions, China-Europe Seminar on Human Rights on four occasions, and theInternational Seminar on Human Rights andMuseologyseveral times, as well as the China-Germany Seminar on Human Rights and theSino-American Dialogue on the Rule of Law and Human Rights. These play animportant role in increasing exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.Every year China receives human rights representatives from many countries andinternational organizations, and arranges for foreign visits by Chinese humanrights delegations, to strengthen its exchanges and cooperation on human rightswith other countries and enhance mutual knowledge and understanding.

Providing Chinesesolutions to global human rights governance.China is activelyengaged in global governance of human rights, making proposals at the UnitedNations General Assembly and the United Nations Human Rights Council and onother occasions to promote the establishment of an international human rightssystem that is fair, just, reasonable and effective.

China proposes the view that“The rights to subsistence and development are the primary, basic humanrights.” China adheres to the principle that all human rights shoulddevelop side by side, and that both the universality and the particularity ofhuman rights should be taken into account. China emphasizes advancingdevelopment through cooperation and promoting human rights through development.These perspectives and proposals lead the cause of human rights both indeveloping countries and in the wider world.

The idea of building a globalcommunity of shared future, as proposed by PresidentXiJinping, has elicited a positive internationalresponse. The concept has been written into many resolutions of the UnitedNations Human Rights Council and the United Nations Security Council, and isbeing recognized by more and more countries. It is an example of Chinese wisdomand a Chinese solution to future world development, including global governance of human rights. China has supported the passingof many resolutions by the UNHRC, including the President’s Statement onthe Twentieth Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and of theAdoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Promoting theRight to Health through Enhancing Capacity-building in Public Health, TheContribution of Development to the Enjoyment of All Human Rights, and PromotingMutually Beneficial Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights. Particularly, thepassing of the resolution, The Contribution of Development to the Enjoyment ofAll Human Rights, for the first time introduced the concept of “promotinghuman rights through development” into the international human rightssystem.

On behalf ofover 140 countries, China has delivered speeches on issues such as “enhancing cooperation on humanrights”, “actualizingthe right todevelopment”and “building a global community of shared future” on manyoccasions; China has also hosted side events andexhibitions at the UN with the theme of “promoting human rights throughpoverty reduction”.

 

VIII. Path of Human Rights Protection Suited

to National Conditions

Over the past four decades ofreform and opening up, China has made significant progress in human rights,creating a new path of human rights protection based on China’s historyand national conditions, and the successful experiences of other countries.This path is the result of the Chinese people’s experimentation in practiceand theoretical innovation led by the CPC, and embodies the essence ofsocialism with Chinese characteristics.

Human rights protectioncenteredon thepeople.Peopleare the fundamental driving force of history. People-centereddevelopment toward a better life was the original aspiration and remains thedistinct goal of China’s reform and opening up. To realize thisaspiration, the state respects the people’s principal position in thecountry, safeguards their political rights, expands orderly politicalparticipation in all fields at all levels, and ensures the people’srights to equal participation and equal development. Furthermore, the statetakes the people’swellbeingand commonprosperity as its ultimate goal, enables the people to be the main contributors,promoters, and beneficiaries of development, and works tofulfilltheir aspirations for a better education, more stable jobs, higher incomes,more reliable social security, better medical and health care, improved housingconditions, and a beautiful environment, advancing the all-round development ofthe people. Since the 18th CPC National Congress the CPC has given prominenceto the principle of people-centereddevelopment byputting the interests of the people above all else, focusing its efforts ontheir aspiration for a better life, and enhancing the protection of all basichuman rights. The CPC and the Chinese government plan reform policies and setreform measures in the interests of the people, and always make sure thatreform responds to public demand. China’s national rejuvenationrepresents a process of promoting social fairness and justice, advancing humanrights, realizing, safeguarding, and developing the fundamental interests ofthe people, ensuring that the fruits of development better benefit all thepeople in a fair way, and enabling every person to enjoy self-development andserve society with dignity.

Integration of theprinciple of universality of human rights with China’s nationalconditions.The universality ofhuman rights is grounded in human dignity and value, and based on commoninterests and basic moral norms shared by all. There is no universallyapplicable model for fulfilling human rights, and human rights can only advancein the context of national conditions and people’s needs. The CPC and theChinese government approach human rights from a historical, dialectical anddevelopmental perspective, and take advantage of the strengths of socialismwith Chinese characteristics while bearing in mind the overarching conditionthat China is still and will long remain in the primary stage of socialism,integrating universality with particularity. The central authorities takeproactive steps to meet the people’s need for development, and advancehuman rights in a planned and progressive manner.

Primary focus on therights to subsistence and development.From the mid-19th century China suffered repeated foreign aggression and fellto the status of a poor and weak country. The experience of numerous hardshipstaught the Chinese people that the rights to subsistence and development arethe primary rights – the preconditions and the foundation for all otherhuman rights. A process of self-actualizationforindividuals, development is a means to eliminate poverty and paves the way forrealizing other human rights. Taking development as its top priority, China iscommitted to liberating and developing the country’s productive forcesand eliminating poverty. The country has achieved outstanding economic successand realized the historic leaps from poverty to secure access to food andclothing, and thence to moderate prosperity. In the light of its nationalconditions, China pursues innovative, coordinated, green, open and inclusivedevelopment, highlights balance and sustainability, and promotes harmonybetween urban and rural areas, between regions, between the economy andsociety, and between humanity and nature to lay a solid foundation forfulfilling and protecting the right to development.

Coordinated progress inall human rights as a major principle for human rights protection.Over the past 40 years, adhering to the principle of interdependence andinalienability of all human rights, China has coordinated the planning andpromotion of all rights andendeavoredto strike abalance between economic, social and cultural rights and civil and politicalrights, and between individual rights and collective rights. Moving toward theChinese Dream of national rejuvenation set out by the 18th CPC NationalCongress, the CPC has advanced the overall plan of seeking economic, political,cultural, social, and ecological progress, and made comprehensive moves tocomplete a moderately prosperous society in all respects, to extend reform, toadvance the rule of law, and to strengthen Party discipline. In this way Chinahas made comprehensive progress in human rights through an integrated approach.

Institutionalguarantee of human rights under the rule of law.The rule of law is a symbol of human progress and an important guarantee ofhuman rights. China has made rule of law the fundamental strategy for governingthe country and worked to build a socialist country under the rule of law. Thestate enhances comprehensive protection of human rights under the rule of law,ensures that the people enjoy their rights and freedoms to a fuller extent, andstrives to realize social fairness and justice, in an effort to bring about theall-round development of individuals and comprehensive progress of society.Since the 18th CPC National Congress the CPC and the Chinese government havemade comprehensive moves to advance the rule of law, taking a holistic approachto building a country, a government and a society where the rule of lawapplies. The central authorities have given greater prominence to respectingand protecting human rights in building a socialist country under the rule oflaw, and placed human rights under the full protection of the rule of lawthrough strengthening legislation, law enforcement, administration of justice,and observance of law.

A global community ofshared future as a way to improve global human rights governance.China is a supporter,practitioner and promoter of the sound development of the international humanrights cause. Since reform and opening up China has pursued common developmentacross the world, aiming for a better life for the Chinese people and thepeoples of other countries. China has developed rapidly by taking advantage ofopportunities created by a peaceful international environment. It has in turnupheld and promoted world peace and common propensity through its owndevelopment, and made an outstanding contribution to the cause of internationalhuman rights. China calls for inclusiveness, exchanges, and mutual learningbetween cultures and between countries to advance human rights together.International human rights issues should be resolved through consultation.Building a global human rights governance system needs the participation of allcountries, and progress in human rights benefits all peoples in the world. Allmember states have the responsibility to abide by the purposes and principlesof the UN Charter, uphold the principle of sovereign equality, and engage inhuman rights exchanges and cooperation in a constructive way. China conducts extensiveand in-depth cooperation on international human rights, and promotes a fair andequitable global system for human rights governance by working together withother countries to build a global community of shared future.

Conclusion

The past 40 years of reform andopening up have seen a growing sense of gain, happiness and security, andnoteworthy progress in the cause of human rights in China. It is a fact thatthe Chinese people have never enjoyed a more extensive range of human rightsthan they do today.

China is the largest developingcountry in the world. Its progress enables the Chinese people to enjoy humanrights to a fuller extent, contributes significantly to the development ofhumanity, and shares with the world China’s experience in protectinghuman dignity and enriching the diversity of human rights culture.

There is always room forimproving human rights. To protect human rights to a fuller extent, China stillhas a long way to go and faces many difficulties and challenges. As China is stilland will long remain in the primary stage of socialism, pressing problemscaused by unbalanced and inadequate development await solutions. Many areasconcerning publicwellbeingrequire improvement.Poverty alleviation remains a formidable task. The people’s aspirationsregarding employment, education, health care, elderly care, and environment areyet to be satisfied, and protection of human rights under the rule of law needsto be enhanced.

The Chinese people are strivingto achieve the Two Centenary Goals and the Chinese Dream under the leadershipof the CPC Central Committee led by PresidentXiJinping. Through perseverance in the coming decades, theywill enjoy better protected human rights and greater dignity, freedom andhappiness. The cause of human rights in China can look forward to prospects ofa brighter future.

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